Anna lives a rugged life, such is the way of a traveling swords-woman. Live to fight, fight to eat, but while traveling to the kingdom of Arendelle late one winter she stumbles upon a group of bandits, attacking people on the road and jumps into the fray, changing her life. Forever.

Thick curtains kept the bright morning rays from piercing into the room. The sun was not the reason Anna was now hovering in between the space of awake and asleep, but rather movement from the bed's other occupant. When she cracked an eye open, icy blue eyes were smiling down at her. The 27 year old knight grunted, closing her eye and pulling the body pressed into hers closer.

"Too early," She grumbled. A quiet laugh and warm lips brushing hers was her answer.

"For you, darling, but I have preparations to oversee," The 30 year old queen mumbled against the Knight's skin. "Sleep a while longer, but try not to be late, alright?" Her words were thick with amusement as she untangled herself from the smaller but stronger woman.

The bed shifted, and Anna blinked blearily at the robed backside of her lover from her place wrapped in the sheets..

"Have some faith in me." She grunted, turning over and burying further into the warm sea green sheets and falling back into a light sleep.

The full moon was shining in through the libraries large windows, lighting up the rows and rows of books with a pale blue light. She was so engrossed in the charts and books in front of her, she hadn't even noticed that the sun had gone down or that a servant had wandered by and lit the candles in the room.

The light scratching of her pen on paper and the quiet flickering of the candle flame were the only sounds in the room. She flicked her eyes back and forth, mumbling under her breath.

She nearly jumped out of her chair when a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Sometimes I regret letting you learn to read." Elsa mumbled, her chin resting on the knights head, looking down at the books, charts, and maps of the heavens and Anna's notes of constellations and their positions during certain times of the year.

Anna glanced around, surprised, realizing the sun had gone down.

"Huh, what time is it? Did I miss dinner?" Elsa hummed an affirmative, twisting her fingers in the long auburn locks that draped over her shoulders.

"Oops, sorry, Snowflake," She grinned sheepishly. She kicked the chair next to her out from the table in invitation.

The arms disappeared before the whole woman sat down beside her, the ice crystals that composed her dress sparkled in the flickering candlelight, her braid draped over her left shoulder.

"you've been locked in here for hours, what have you been doing?" She set her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her palm. Teal eyes flicked up, meeting hers for only the briefest of moments before looking back down at the papers.

"Nothing, really; charting on the positions of these lesser known stars during the solstice so I…" She rambled on for several minutes. Elsa just watched her with a smile as she started to fling her hands around in emphasis, wiggling her fingers and making faces. Elsa grinned into her palm, trying to keep track of everything her love was saying at breakneck speed.

Eventually, Anna noticed the bemused look on her face, emphasized by the crinkling around her eyes. She lowered her hands and cleared her throat.

"Why do you just let me ramble on like that?" She grumbled turning back to her papers and charts. Elsa leaned forward and kissed the knight's cheek.

"I love watching you get so excited that your body just can't seem to contain it." Anna grunted. Elsa leaned in and breathed in her ear. "Though usually, that's when were alone in our rooms." The Knight smirked, glancing up once more from her work, copper brows wiggled.

"Is that why you came looking for me?" Elsa rolled her eyes, but the smirk on her own lips betrayed her.

"No, maybe later." The redhead pouted. "I did want to ask you if you'd come somewhere with me."

"Of course," She answered without hesitation.

"Put your things in your study ,and I'll meet you in the stables." Anna nodded, closing her books and carefully rolling up her maps and charts as Elsa left.

"ANNA!"

She jolted awake as a heavy mass flew through the bedroom door before launching onto the bed. Anna grunted loudly, but was drowned out by the laughing of the mass atop her. She groaned, burying herself further under the blankets.

"Come on, get up Anna." The sheets were ripped away and she hissed as bright light streamed onto her face.

"Go away, Olaf." She curled into a ball, squeezing her eyes shut. A pair of fingers pulled her eyes lids back. She glared up at the happy blue eyes and mop of snow white hair. The 12 year old boy grinned brightly at her.

"Can I borrow Frost?" She sat up with a stretch and grunt.

"No." His face dropped, lip jutting out. "No, Olaf. Surely you remember the last time you tried that." He pouted.

" But I told Emma I'd come see her today." Anna yawned, running her fingers through her hair.

"Oh, well, in that case...Hell no." He glared at her. "You aren't allowed to leave the castle unattended, you know that."

"Come with me." Anna balked at him.

"You do remember what today is, right? Kind of important. I need to be here."

"Royal order." He tried again. Anna smirked.

"Nice try, but only the Queen can do that, and she'd kill us both if we weren't here, me especially." He moaned dramatically, flinging himself onto his back, head in her lap. She rolled her eyes. "She'll be here in a matter of hours, Olaf. Just wait."

"Fine," He huffed. He lay there for a moment in silence before light blue eyes turned to her. "Could we practice for a little while?" She glanced down at him, staring intensely and then smiled.

"Meet me at the usual spot." He jumped up and ran from the room. "Don't let Elsa see you!" She called after him.

She chuckled, standing up, and quickly dressing in a dark green tunic before sprinting out of the room.

Anna hopped off Frost, giving him a pat as Elsa jumped down beside her. Mounting and dismounting the scaly best was second nature to them both.

The pond sat placid before them. Elsa loved to come here when she could get away from the castle.

Elsa stepped out onto the water, freezing it quickly. She took a few more steps, turning and waving a hand at the knight on the shore, blades of ice crystallizing beneath her boots. Anna stepped out onto the water, shoving off the shore and whizzing past the queen, turning and skating backwards circles around her.

Elsa smirked.

"Hard to believe I used to have to drag you around by the hand." Anna slid by, grabbing onto the queens hands as she did, pulling her to follow.

"That was a long time ago," Anna huffed, jerking the queen to her. She gave a small shriek, landing against Anna's chest.

She glared at the redhead who just grinned.

"Yes. Well, be that as it may, the point is I remember. You forced me out here at an ungodly early hour to play with my magic." She pushed away from the knight and skated across the pond while a wave ice erupted from the ground in bright, translucent spires that weaved around the rising pillars.

Anna watched silently; the queens magic never failed to amaze her even after 6 years. It was indescribable.

"That never gets old," She mumbled to herself. Elsa slid to her side, stopping with a smirk.

"Glad to know I've yet to bore you." Anna rolled her eyes with a snort.

"You're not always the most exciting, that's true." She grinned at the glare the platinum blonde was shooting her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Elsa put up a mock struggle. "But I love you anyway." She planted a sloppy wet kiss on the queen's cheek.

Elsa made a face, slapping the other woman's face away.

"Ugh, I hate it when you do that and you know it." She wiped the slobber off her cheek. Anna snickered in reply, skating away while spinning in slow, lazy circles across the water's surface.

She watched quietly until familiar teal eyes were staring into her own from across the pond.

"Are you okay, Elsa?" She slid back over, wrapping an arm around the blonde's waist. 'You've been acting a little strange the last few days." She wanted to argue but knew the knight was right. She had been acting a bit out of character, she knew. Her nerves had been eating her up inside.

"I'm fine, really. I've just…had something on my mind is all." Copper brows hiked up in silent question that Elsa understood well after nearly 7 years.

"I need to talk to you." Anna blinked owlishly

Olaf was already waiting for her when she walked around the back of the castle where the lake was. He was bouncing around on the balls of his feet, sword on his hip, the tip of the scabbard barely off the ground.

"Alright, start your sets," She nodded. He drew his blade, settling into a calmer, more serious mindset. The first time they'd done this, he'd nearly chopped his own arm off and had been chewed out by the royal knight for his carelessness. He was much more serious now.

She watched him perform the cuts and slashes with a keen and careful eye. Elsa would skin her alive if he maimed himself. His training wasn't a secret per say…but when they had finally managed to convince her, Elsa had demanded to be present. She made the Prince nervous, though, so they decided just not…to tell her when they were training.

"Is he getting any better?" She blinked, turning to look. She grinned, giving a deep bow.

"King Alistair." She greeted. He gave an exasperated sigh as he came to stand beside her.

"Please, Anna. As long as I have known you, there should be no reason to stand on ceremony with me or Amelia when no one is around." He smiled.

"I know. Mostly I do it to get under your skin…" She chuckled. He rolled his eyes but the smile didn't falter.

"Where's your wife and little monster?" She glanced around, looking for said woman and child.

He laughed loudly.

"Amelia is trying to convince Elsa to let her help with the final arrangements, and Andrick is being watched by a maid."

"As much as I love him, I feel sorry for that maid." Anna mumbled. Alistair smirked.

"His terrible twos have lasted longer than I would care for myself as well."

"Well, he is 6…" Anna snorted. The king grinned sheepishly.

He glanced over at the albino prince before looking back to Anna.

"I'm sure you are an excellent teacher Anna, but perhaps I could…" He trailed off. She held her hands out.

"By all means." She let herself daze off. She trusted Alistair completely with the crown Prince; they had known him for 7 years, after all. Andrick referred to herself and Elsa as his Aunts, though he did of course have a real Aunt in Alistair's sister, Princess Assandra, but he had known the Queen and Knight his entire life.

Olaf practiced a for a while longer before he plopped down tiredly. Alistair turned to her.

"How about a quick match before we have to get ready?" He took Olaf's sword and slipped into a stance. Anna smirked, drawing Winter's Sting.

"I guess I can spare a few minutes to beat you down." She grinned at the smirking king. Olaf watched silently. Elsa would not be happy about this.

Elsa grabbed her hand, Anna following as she lead them to a log on the ponds bank, where they sat.

Well…yeah, but...not quite for the reason you think…" Pale white brows jerked upwards. "After the first…4 years, I guess, I figured you weren't ever going to ask me." the Queen's mouth opened to protest but a finger to her lips hushed her.

" Don't get me wrong, I know you love me, I just figured the right time for you would never come." Anna shrugged. Elsa frowned.

"But, you never said anything…" Her confusion was plain on her face. If Anna believed she was never going to ask her, why hadn't she spoken up?

"No, I didn't. There was once a time when the idea we would never get married broke my heart...Seems like a lifetime ago…" She stepped back out of Elsa's arms, pulling back till the queen's hands were wrapped in her own calloused ones.

"..But we're both older now, and I realized that it didn't matter if we got married or not, I would be happy just so long as we were together."

"So…?"The queen blinked. Anna grinned scooping the queen up in her arms. Elsa squealed as the knight spun her .

"Of course I'll marry you!" She laughed, setting the blonde back on her feet before kissing her passionately. When she pulled back, she grinned. "I told you I'd never turn you down." Elsa squeezed her fiercely.

"So you did."

She and Alistair were both breathing heavily, standing several feet apart with swords clutched in their hands when the midday bells began to ring.

Anna jolted.

"Shit, it's noon! I have to go get ready!" She sheathed her blade and turned, running back toward the castle. Alistair and Olaf weren't far behind. They'd gotten sidetracked for too long.

The wedding was only an hour away.

Anna tore down the halls in a near panic. She couldn't believe for all the days she had to lose track of time, it had to be her wedding day. She couldn't even imagine the fury her lover would shower down on her if she was late to their wedding. If she'd learned anything from the past 7 years, it was that, when infuriated, her beloved queen was a force to be reckoned with.

Anna had no desire to be on the end of that. Not again.

She peeked into their room to find it empty. Elsa was no doubt in the ballroom seeing to any last minute preparations, or getting dressed in another room. Anna stripped off her clothes, running to the washroom where water had been left. She jumped into the iron tub, bathing as fast as she could.

Hopefully, Olaf was doing the same, as he'd gotten nasty himself during his practice.

A knock on the bedroom door had her looking up, sloshing water on the floor.

"Do you require any assistance, Lady Anna?" Kai asked from outside the door.

Anna stood to jump out of the tub. "I'm doing finnn-!" She slipped on the wet floor, cracking her arm against the iron tub with a crash.

"Augh!...son of a fucking..!" She growled.

"Are you alright, Anna?!" Kai's worried voice reached her. She moved to sit up but hissed in pain, her arm throbbing to life. She knew this pain, she'd felt it before; a broken bone.

"Shit! Kai..." She heard the door open and Kai come rushing toward the washroom door. "Stop, Kai, I'm not wearing any clothes. Go get the physician." She managed to grab her towel with the arm that wasn't throbbing and get it around herself.

"Are you sure, Anna?" She could hear his hesitance to leave her hurt.

"Yes, just hurry and don't tell Elsa!" A quick affirmative and he was gone. Anna sighed.

"Fucking hell." She hissed.

It was only a few minutes before Kai came rushing back with the physician, Edgar.

"It is indeed broken, Lady Anna, but not badly." He began to wrap it. Anna sighed through her nose.

"Wonderful." She growled. He finished and gave her a few pain numbing shots and helped her stand before excusing himself.

"Shall I go inform her majesty now?" Kai asked.

"No way." Anna shot down. "Elsa will have a conniption. I've been waiting 7 years to marry that woman. I'm getting married today, broken arm or not! I am going to need you to help me get dressed though, Kai." She blushed. He nodded, all business.

"Of course. I'm at your command, Anna."

The stark white dress pants of her suit were easy, it was the royal blue double breasted suit coat that gave them the most problems. Anna gritted her teeth, straightening out her arm so Kai could slip the sleeve over it. The edges of her vision went black for a moment.

She'd probably have to have Elsa cut the shirt off of her when the night was through. The rest went easily, including Winter's Sting at her hip. Kai tied a sling around her neck, to cradle her arm. They finished just barely in time to rush to the throne room where the guests sat waiting. They had a mere 20 minutes before the ceremony began.

Arendelle wedding traditions demanded the groom go to the bride and make sure the woman in the dressing room was the right one. For ease's sake they declared Elsa the bride, defaultly leaving Anna the groom. It was an ancient, silly tradition, but it would give her a chance to explain her broken arm; Elsa would be less than happy about the surprise.

She left Kai in the throne room, walking gently down the hall, doing her best not to jar her arm anymore than necessary.

A quick knock on the door and a moment later, it was pulled open to reveal Gerda. The woman smiled and opened the door, allowing Anna to step inside, also revealing her arm. The older maid gasped.

"Anna, what happened to your arm?" She fussed. Anna stepped back when it looked like Gerda might touch the throbbing appendage.

"Oh, well, ya see…" She started when a door opened, and as she looked up, all thought stopped. Elsa had stepped out of another room when she'd heard the knight. Anna went speechless, jaw coming unhinged. In the years they'd been together, she'd seen the queen in a myriad of various outfits and stages of undress, but she'd never seen her like that.

It wasn't ice, or blue as Anna would have expected (no one really expected white). It was a shiny silk material in bright teal, and was accented with strips of cream colored silk around her bodice, waist, and chest. It flared out slightly around her knees. The sleeves came to a point on the back of her hand, thin metal rings slipped over her middle fingers holding the material in place. It hung off her shoulders, dipping low, but high enough to still be considered decently modest. Her hair hung unbound in a shiny, smooth curtain of platinum blonde down to the middle of her back.

Ruby red lips smiled tenderly until she noticed the sling cradling the knights left arm. She picked up the dress's skirt and hurried toward them.

"Anna, what happened?" Her hands hovered over the appendage.

"I may…MAY have broken it…slipping in the tub because I was running late and trying to hurry..." The queen gave an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, Anna." She shook her head. "Does it hurt terribly? Should we postpone-" Anna was quick to cut her off.

"No! Edgar gave me a few shots, so it's pretty numb right now and everyone is already here. I've waited 7 years, and I'll wait…" She glanced around untill she found the clock. "Another 10 minutes and that's it. By the end of today, we'll be married and you'll just have to get over it. I've done my waiting." Behind them, Gerda giggled quietly.

Elsa rolled her eyes, but gave her a lopsided smile.

"Alright, if you're sure…" The knight nodded resolutely, than glanced up and down again at the dress.

"You're beautiful." Slight pink tinted the queen's cheeks. It did a lot to raise Anna's spirits that she could still make Elsa flustered even after all this time.

"Thank you." She pushed a few strands of silky platinum hair behind her ear before Gerda cleared her throat.

"I hate to interrupt your majesty, my lady, but the wedding." They both jerked straight.

"Uh, right." Anna nodded.

"So, tradition. Lady Anna, is this woman your bride?" She asked. Teal eyes turned back to the queen and she pursed her lips, humming in thought. A light slap to her broke arm hurried her decision along.

"Yessss…" She hissed in pain, glaring at Elsa. "Gods help me, but yes, for some reason this is the woman I intend to marry." She grumbled. Gerda ignored her grumbling and turned to Elsa.

"Oh, are you going to carry me over the threshold of our room later?" She chuckled to herself. A single platinum brow arched upwards.

"Considering your legendary clumsiness has picked such an inopportune time to strike, I suppose I'll have to." She gave a mock sigh of exasperation. Anna sniffed.

"Gee, what a sweet talker I'm marrying." She drawled. Elsa just smiled, winking in reply as Gerda began to nudge her out.

"Go on now, Lady Anna, the ceremony will begin soon." The older woman bumped her out of the room, closing the door behind her. She could hear Elsa's quiet laughing through the door.

She went back to the throne room, stopping outside the doors where Kai was waiting for her.

"Are you ready, my lady?" Anna took a deep breath to calm the sudden butterflies in her stomach. She nodded.

"I've been ready for years." She smiled assuringly. Kai opened the door for her and with another breath, she walked down the Aisle, smiling at the guests closest to her in the packed room. When she stopped in her place at the end of the aisle, she surveyed the crowd. Her Mother was sitting in the front row along with Kristoff and his 7 month pregnant wife, Conna. He grinned broadly at her. Emma sat to the left of them. She too smiled reassuringly at her older sister when their eyes met. Olaf was sidled up to her sister but gave a small wave.

On the other side of the aisle, where the special guests were seated, Alistair and Amelia sat in the front row. Andrick was nestled in his mother's lap, no doubt to keep him out of trouble. It followed him closely.

When he saw Anna looking at him, his brown eyes lit up.

"Hi, Aunt Anna!" He whispered loudly. Amelia hushed him, but the knight couldn't help but grin. Alistair rolled his eyes.

Suddenly the music started and her eyes beelined for the door on the other side of the room, joined by everyone else's. She swallowed the lump in her throat as teal met icy blue, and despite the dull throbbing in her broken arm, Anna would remember it as the best day of her life.

The most difficult part of the ceremony was slipping the ring on Anna finger without jarring her arm. They were the first one out of the throne room and into the adjoining ballroom. There, they stood waiting as their guests filed inside.

Kai was the first to address them.

"My most heartfelt congratulations to you both, your majesty, your highness." He smiled. They thanked him before he excused himself to tend to the guests. Anna grunted, turning to her new wife.

"Do they have to call me that? I'm still fine with 'Lady Anna' really. I prefer just being a Knight." Anna assured. Elsa laughed, leaning into the redhead's good side.

"I'm afraid so; that was part of the deal and you know it. You're Princess-consort Anna now." Anna huffed and Elsa smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to the corner of her wife's lips.

"Don't worry, Anna. You'll always be my Knight."

Well there it is people. Keep an eye out for "Forever in your Service" A collection of one-shots that will explore all these characters deeper. Thanks to everyone whose stuck with this including all the wonderful art!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.